KAERITAI
by MeechiesQueen
Summary: Izuku is part Selkie, but living in the human world anyway. But after being given up on by everyone for being quirkless, even All Might, he decides to live with his mom, where there's more people like him. He's never been considered an equal before, but maybe now, he could make a friend... Rated M for some serious angst, mature themes, some skoodilypooping. Kids, no.
1. Chapter 1

it's been actual years

i went to ao3 for a while but the my hero academia fandom there seemed to lack quality content, so im posting here now

plz be nice

 **ANGST, SOME SAD THEMES, SOME SEXYTIMES, THIS IS RATED M FOR A REASON**

but seriously this is probably a good story

also cross-posted to ao3 because i haven't given up hope yet

* * *

"'Gone to work this evening, I'll be here by eight but dinner in the fridge in case, Dad'…"

Izuku sighed, and pulled the note from the bulletin board. "Again?" He asked, staring at it tiredly.

He decided to prolong the inevitable, and went to his room. He set his backpack by his desk, changing out of his school uniform before he went to the fridge. Inside was a prepared bento and two pudding cups. A spoon with an All Might hair topper on the hand end was taped across both pudding lids, a message scrawled across in rushed marker.

' _SORRY! THEY'RE BOTH YOURS'_. Izuku reached for the ramen, but grabbed the pudding.

He plopped down on the living room couch, turned the TV on, pulled the spoon from the lids. The TV droned on some news channel while Izuku popped the lid off of one of the cups. Izuku scooped some, but his hand paused when he fully registered the All Might topper.

" _I'm sorry, but…"_

Izuku shoved the spoon into his mouth, and sniffed. He ate furiously, even when his pudding started tasting more salty than sweet.

When he emptied both cups, he thought about eating the bento, but only felt sick at the thought of eating more. So he thought about going back to his room. His homework awaited him, menacingly.

" _Can he even do the assignment? He's Quirkless, y'know…"_

" _I hear they're dumber than the rest, because they aren't as evolved as us…"_

" _...no way I'll get this done with him as my partner! He may get good grades, but he has bags under his eyes for a reason. He_ _ **struggles**_ _."_

Izuku stood, threw away the pudding cups, and went to his father's room. He doesn't even like pudding.

His father's room was locked, as usual, but Izuku jiggled the knob like an idiot anyway. He wasn't allowed in alone. He was brought in, sometimes, when he was younger, but he hadn't been inside for years since.

He jiggled the knob again, like an idiot, and wondered if he could pick the lock. He wanted his shell.

His mom sent his dad his seashell when Izuku was nine; he found it when his dad was out of the house, and knew immediately that he was supposed to have it. He hasn't felt that completeness since, because his father took it.

" _Your mother wanted you to have this, but…"_

Izuku shrugged the feeling off, retied his coat around his hips, and went to his own room. Even if it was magic, he didn't really need it, did he? Even if it did make him that happy, his dad took it for a reason.

He sat at his desk, pulled out his homework, and acted like he was really doing it before he picked up his phone and played a game. Or two. And then he started scrolling through Yotube. And then he glanced at the time and saw that three hours had passed. _'Dad should be home in an hour,'_ Izuku found himself thinking. _'But…'_

Izuku dug through his bag, and produced a paperclip. Guilt dug its claws into his insides, but he was getting desperate. He really wanted his shell. He had it once, and it made him so happy…he needed it again.

Something to get this weight off his shoulders.

It was the weekend, anyway; his homework could wait. So he wiggled the knob again, biting his bottom lip. The knob turned, but the door gave only a bit.

Izuku blinked. He pushed harder. It gave a bit more, but not enough. Only a sliver of darkness was visible - there was something blocking it. Izuku pushed, with all his might, but the door still only gave an inch.

Izuku scowled in frustration. Why couldn't he just have _one thing_ go his way…?!

" _A pro should always be ready to risk his life."_

He slid down, putting his back to the door, and glared through his blurring vision. Why couldn't he...?!

" _He can't do anything."_

 _"Without power, could one become a hero? No, I should think not."_

 _ **Why couldn't he…!?**_

"Uwah!" Izuku felt something loosen with a snap, and the door swung open. He fell back, and blinked at the ceiling in shock. He sniffed before rolling onto his stomach and getting to his knees. He frowned deeply - the entire carpet was soaked with water.

" _You need more control over your power. Until then, you cannot use this."_

Izuku rubbed his nose and sniffed again. His father's room was filled with stacks of boxes soaked at the bottom and ruined papers lay strewn everywhere; in front of him, a soaked slip of paper was hand-written up-down, right-left, in mysterious characters. Izuku frowned, certain he'd seen them somewhere before…but that wasn't what he was in here for. He was here for his shell. His white coat glowed dimly in in the darkness of the room.

He got to his feet, sliding his arms into his coat sleeves. Izuku frowned, hoping his father didn't put it in one of the boxes. The need for his shell grew within him, but he still wasn't committed enough to start going through his father's things. Izuku took a few steps into the room, guilt starting to claw at his insides again. He wanted to give up.

But still, he pushed further into the room, the water in the carpet seeming more and more concentrated until he was walking in a puddle. Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, he noticed the water was pooling around his Dad's bed. He took in a breath sharply, and went to his knees, and reached under the bed.

He reached around blindly, hope rising in his chest. His coat got warmer, glowed brighter. He felt a smile growing on his face.

Izuku reached just a bit further, and, with a sharp intake of breath, felt something like a box. He grabbed it, pulled it out, and opened it before he even thought about what he was doing.

Inside was his seashell, almost floating in the water that spilled from the box. He stared at it in an almost lost wonder, losing his place in time and space. The shell was colored with a pale green over the white, darkening into beautiful, actively moving, swirls and lines. Izuku couldn't help but admire it. _'Definitely magic.'_

He eventually couldn't bear just staring at it anymore, and picked it up with gentle hands. He had to sing. _'I have to…sing…'_

He put it to his lips, and blew. Somehow, he knew exactly what to do, and the full, joyful sound was heard over the click of the door as it was unlocked and opened.

Inko sighed. "He did? Oh, I'm glad. I was starting to get a bit worried…" The woman smiled warmly. "I'm so glad he found it."

Hisashi laughed a bit. "I am too." He quieted in thought, eyebrows furrowed. "I was beginning to think I wasn't doing my job right, y'know? Maybe I messed up…"

"Oh, no!" Inko shook her head. "You work so hard. I should help."

Hisashi scratched his head, and sighed. "I think it would be better for Izuku to be there, with you. I'm not exactly the greatest father."

Inko looked at him through the magical hologram with concern. "I don't doubt you're ability as a parent, Hisashi; I don't want you to strain yourself to be both the greatest diplomat of all time and the greatest father ever. If he won't mind…"

Hisashi sighed, and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll ask him."

Izuku's head tilted a bit. His chopsticks paused on the way to his mouth. "Huh?"

"Your mother," Hisashi repeated, getting a prepared udon meal from the refrigerator and starting to reheat it, even though eleven at night. "Do you want to live with her?"

"Really?" He blinked. He knew his mom wasn't human, and didn't live on Earth, but that's about as much as he really knew about her. Whether he believed that depended on how real the coat around his shoulders was…and he did think it was real, for lack of any other explanation. "Really!?"

Hisashi nodded. "Yeah. She wants to see you, before you get too old."

Izuku stood suddenly, ramen forgotten. "When? Am -" His mind backtracked violently. "-live with her?"

His father looked at him strangely. He shook a salt shaker of glowing "not-salt" as Izuku called it. "If you don't want to, then that's fine. You only have to visit for now, if living there now is too sudden."

Izuku shook his head, but stopped. "What about you?" He didn't like some of the things his dad did, but overall, he didn't hate him. Even if he didn't know what his dad did for a living, he knew it had to be important.

"I'll be fine," Hisashi chuckled, sitting at the table in front of Izuku. "I'll have to live on a diet consisting completely of instant foods, but I'll live." He smiled to himself. "Your mother…really is amazing. You'll love her, I know it."

"Where is she?"

"Pangaea."

Izuku's eyes narrowed in puzzlement, and widened, and his head cocked to one side. "…huh?"

"Pangaea," Hisashi said, around the udon in his mouth. "It's a planet in an alternate universe, is the working theory. No one really knows..." Hisashi paused, put down his chopsticks, and put up his hands to better illustrate with. "It's a planet like Earth - just a bit smaller - with rings, and a moon like Earth's…"

"Rings?" Izuku asked, shoving down his confusion. Izuku's father nodded.

"Rocky ones. Spectacular past. All kinds of legends." Hisashi paused again, in thought. "It has days like Earth, nights like Earth. A double sunrise. You'll get used to it."

Izuku stopped in his tracks. "A double sunrise?!"

"Yeah. It orbits a binary system of yellow stars."

The green-haired boy tried to think of an Earth with two suns, and failed. "A ring…and two suns…" The most mind-blowing thing he could think of before today was something like the amount of incidents All Might and Endeavor combined have solved, but going to a planet with two suns and a ring nearly blew that out of the water.

"You'll get used to it," Hisashi said flippantly. "That is, if you want to."

Izuku stared blankly at his cold ramen. "Sure. Why not?"

And the next day, Izuku woke up at ten in the morning and immediately assumed last night was a dream, but saw his homework still laying on his desk, under his seashell.

He sat there like an idiot for longer than he'd ever want to admit. The thought of school chugged through his mind, but crashed someplace on the way to realization. Ugh, he didn't want to think about school. He never wanted to go back to school.

 _A hero without power…_

What future does he have here?

So his second instinct was to ask his dad if he was serious about his mother, which he did. His father had fallen asleep on their couch, which Izuku found a bit troubling, but he didn't mention it.

"Oh, yeah," His father said, still looking suspiciously half-asleep. "Yeah. Are you sure you want to go?"

"Yeah…" Izuku said, quietly. He briefly reconsidered staying on Earth. The train of thought died where the one about school did. "When?"

"Today, if you want," Hisashi rubbed his hands over his face. "It wouldn't be a problem, I think."

"Today?" Izuku blinked, eyes big as saucers. "Like, now? Can I come back?"

"Whenever you want."

Izuku way beyond everything going on, frankly, but had found himself pretty much accepting it in stride. He'd probably have an existential crisis about it at three a.m. someday, but for now, he wanted to ride out this new reality as smoothly as he could.

Which meant. Packing. He's packing. To leave for. A new…planet? Dimension? Universe? He shoved his confusion down and unearthed his suitcase from the back of his closet, because he probably wouldn't really need moving boxes or anything like that, right? Right? He should probably stop thinking so hard or he'll have his crisis now.

Izuku packed clothes, his hero notebooks, his All Might figures and posters and DVD interview specials (as opposed to the Blu-ray ones - he wasn't sure if they had Blu-Ray DVD players on Pangaea.) toiletries, his laptop; things like that. Essentials. Anything else he'd pack into his backpack. He readjusted his coat around his waist and sighed.

"You ready, kiddo?" Hisashi said, standing in Izuku's doorway, looking refreshed. "We're going by portal, so I'm quite happy we haven't had breakfast yet.

* * *

So, here's what happened;

Izuku got over himself and Hisashi prepared his magic for portal creation right there in Izuku's room, which is a very strenuous magical exercise indeed; and the circle of Izuku's floor under them reformed into a rather gelatinous substance in the process. Izuku lost his footing in shock, and his coat touched what used to be his floor.

And at that moment, Izuku felt a sudden pulling sensation, as if someone was pulling something out of him - but through his coat. Izuku went from being hyper-aware of his coat to being hyper-aware of the floor; and Izuku's floor, which had long since lost solidity, suddenly given up entirely on staying in this plane of existence and gave way to what Izuku could only logically describe as darkness. But it was much more than that.

Space - meaning, a general area - seemed to curve toward and away from him at the same time, impossibly, many times over in a single second in a single place.

And then it stopped. Izuku, stomach thoroughly bottomed out, feared to open his eyes. Someone -his father - groaned next to him. "Ugh, it's been way too long, hasn't it."

"Yes," Another voice said. Izuku initially immediately tossed this from his mind to process the absurdly soft sand under his butt and the sound of waves nearby, but reconsidered it after a minute.

He decided to slowly ease his eyes open, for fear of seeing something mind-bending again, and registered three things immediately. One, the woman standing before them on the beach was probably his mom; two, she was beautiful; and three, they were on a beach.

"Ah…" His father said to the sand, lying face-down. "Ah, yes. The one thing I missed so dearly…the sand. There's nothing quite like it…Earth just can't compete. With this sand, right here."

"Hm, yes…" Izuku's mother said, amusedly. "I wonder who takes care of this wonderful coastline?"

"It's a real mystery, indeed…if you happen to meet her, make sure to tell her that she's doing a seriously amazing job."

The woman chuckled quietly. Izuku thought about formally introducing himself, but his body still hadn't found his stomach yet, and he ended up passing out instead.

"Oh!" Inko quickly reached for him, and pulled his head into her lap. "Oh…the first time really is a shock, isn't it?"

Hisashi huffed a groan, and got to his feet sluggishly. "It's terrible. Make sure he doesn't stay out too long, yeah? All of my bones hurt."

"You don't have to leave immediately…?" Inko said, sprinkling grains of pixie dust across Izuku's unconscious form, eyebrows knit in her concern. "…I do miss you."

Hisashi tapped a kiss to her forehead and smiled softly. "For you, I can afford as long as you need."

"Really!" Inko burst, flushing suddenly. "Really! I might end up reconsidering…!"

"Oh, no!" Hisashi laughed, pulling Izuku's floating form into his arms. "Oh, I'm wounded! You've hurt me, milady!"

Inko smiled, her blush still warm. "Oh, Hisashi."

Izuku dreamed of lollipops and sugar rolls


	2. Chapter 2

Shouto laid down onto the mountain of stuffed toys and pillows, and Fuyumi fluttered above him, fingers in his hair. Shouto rolled his shoulders as she ran a brush through his head. "I'm fine, I can do it. Really."

"Really?" Fuyumi glanced at him, expression a bit concerned. "It's hard, Shouto. The Mooncake takes a lot of magic. "

Shouto narrowed his eyes. Snake made herself known and her tongue flicked out as she surfaced from under the sea of soft things. "I can do it."

"I dunno…" Fuyumi petted Snake a bit and returned to Shouto's hair.

Shouto's wings twitched in frustration. "I'm helping this year. I'm tired of not helping. I've always only watched you."

"Because it's difficult!" Fuyumi burst. "You have no idea! I'd rather not, if I didn't care, but I do, so…but still! Just making it is hard enough, never mind the baking and the casting! Shouto, I just don't think you can-"

Snake hissed suddenly, narrow eyes pointed directly at Fuyumi. It's tiny wings opened in an attempt at a show of power. Shouto stiffened.

Fuyumi didn't finish. She sighed, pulling Shouto's hair into two braids that went around the sides of his head and connected at the back. She pulled a band from her own hair to secure it, and fluttered to Shouto's closet to find something to dress the tie up.

"I'm not…" Shouto muttered, as Fuyumi tied a fake flower's stem around the band. "I'm not weak, Fuyumi. I can help. I will."

Fuyumi sighed. "But you'll stop if you get tired, right? You won't push yourself too hard? Please, at least for me…"

Shouto nodded; when she was done, he turned and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "I'm going. I'll be back soon."

"Don't forget to thank her for me! You have a bad habit of not talking to people…"

* * *

Izuku shot up in bed.

Sunlight streamed in through the window, giving the room a soft light in was almost unmistakably a morning glow. Izuku blinked at his suitcase and bag on the floor next to the bed and swung his legs off the edge.

The room had a peaked ceiling, Izuku's bed parallel to the far wall, with the door. Next to his bed was a nightstand with a small lamp, and across from it was what Izuku assumed to be a closet by the single door in the wall. On the other wall was a window, and just under it was a desk. On it, was his shell.

Izuku pulled his arms back into his coat sleeves and shivered. It was a bit chilly.

He opened his door and found himself in a short hall, with two other doors. He passed them and walked down a short staircase that turned at a right angle halfway down.

He wandered down them and found himself in a hall lined with pictures and paintings, and two open thresholds.

Four of the paintings were of beautiful landscapes and one was a painting of a rather beautiful person; five more were pictures of people and another landscape. One was a picture of a double sunrise, painted in dazzling shades of orange and yellow. Another showcased the binary star system and the planet's rings. There seemed to be another two planets in the system as well, further away. Two stars, two planets with rings and a moon, one with only a moon. Izuku absorbed it, to get used to the reality faster. A new star system… _'I wonder what science class is like.'_

One picture had his mom holding a baby in a white cloth… _'oh, it's me.'_ This had to have happened at one point, but actual proof shocked him a bit. Another had him on his first day of kindergarten; another on his first day of middle school. Another had his mom and his dad, looking a bit younger, sitting together in a café, posing goofily. There was a whole lot about his parents he didn't know, Izuku realized.

"-he's not an infant."

"But he's so young! Even if he is a bit human, he shouldn't be that old, right?"

"Humans mature extremely quickly, Inko...Izuku can eat more than soft foods."

"Huh? Really? Then you should've called earlier!"

Izuku peeked around the corner to his right, and found a kitchen. His father was sitting at the table, and his mother had set out three bowls of what looked like oatmeal but probably wasn't oatmeal on the table. "Uh, hi."

"Oh!" Izuku's mom blinked at him in shock, and a floating cooking pan paused halfway on it's mission to the sink. Izuku found himself staring at it. "It's still a bit early for you to be up. See, your coat is still dull." She waved to his shoulders, expression concerned. "You should rest a bit more, _alanna_." The pan continued and settled into the sink.

"Ah…" Hisashi said, a bit shamefully. "That's another thing I haven't done right…"

Izuku blinked at her in confusion. "But it's always like this…" And then he saw his mother's coat.

Designs in dark green decorated the coat she wore; shapes, swirls, and what looked like animals and waves made his look plain in comparison. While his only glowed feebly in complete darkness, hers seemed to shine, even as the sunshine drifted through the open kitchen window.

"I haven't quite told him…anything." Hisashi cleared his throat weakly. "In my defense, Earth is in quite a public age at the moment, and he getting caught was not something I could deal with."

Inko had an unreadable expression on her face for a moment, before it cleared to a look of determination. "Well, now I know what we're doing today!"

Izuku sat at the kitchen table before one of the bowls of oatmeal and a spoon floated itself to the side of his bowl. Izuku picked it up, muttered a slightly stunned "thank you" and spooned some of the not-oatmeal into his mouth politely.

And something like a warm rainbow burst in his mouth, taste buds caressed by a taste and nutrition he was lacking. So he ate more, spoon after spoon, and emptied the bowl almost within the same moment.

"Hisashi, you have been neglecting our child," Inko said gravely, refilling Izuku's bowl. "I cannot believe this. 'How much harm can he do in a few years?' I thought. But you've gone and starved him!" She was only half-joking, and Hisashi did not miss it.

"Well, I was running low on pixie dust…so mostly all he's had is Earth food. I've messed up, haven't I?" Hisashi frowned, upset with himself. "He's never been shown who he was."

"He tried his best," Izuku said, frowning. "Really."

Inko's face turned unreadable again, and then she smiled gently. "I know. I'm not truly upset."

Izuku nodded, and flushed a bit. Hisashi smiled, almost to himself. "It surprised me when I was younger," Hisashi said to no one in particular. "to find that everyone here loves for real."

"Oh?" Izuku said. His first thought was skepticism, but it bled into just dull curiosity, and tiredness.

* * *

The house was a beach house. Izuku stood on the sand, the waves licking at his toes, and felt a kind of fullness he'd never felt before.

"I'm a Selkie," Izuku said, eyes closed. "But I don't know what that is."

"A Selkie is one of the Daoine Sí that can use its coat to shift their forms into various sea animals and its shell to maintain the coast they live on." Inko breathed in, standing next to him. Izuku's coat seemed a bit brighter than before, by only a bit. "A Selkie who has no Shapes cannot live fully."

"Shapes?"

Inko nodded. "Sea mammals are options for Selkies in general, but it's usually determined by family and where you live." She smiled, and held up her coat. Izuku realized it was covered almost entirely with a few sea animals and their natural surroundings. "A seal, a whale, and a polar bear are my Shapes. They can also be yours."

Izuku shrugged his coat off and felt the magical fabric between his fingers. "How do I…?"

Inko shouldered her coat, and pulled the hood onto her head. "Come with me, and I'll show you."

"'kay," Izuku put his coat back on, pulled his hood up onto his head and followed her as she stepped further into the waves. She took his hand and led him further, until they couldn't stand against the water and had to swim. Izuku had a feeling welling up in him that he couldn't name, and tried to ignore it.

His mother smiled at him, her coat shining brightly, and then in a flash, she was gone. Where she was, a snow white arctic seal blinked and chirped at him.

Izuku tried not to gasp, and shut his eyes against a sudden pain. Something flashed behind his eyelids. And then he opened his eyes.

"It's not that hard, is it?" His mother chirped, seeming to glide though the water around him. Izuku found himself chirping back a general feeling of confusion as he waved his new form wildly. His mother seemed to laugh.

"You'll be fine," She said to him, and curled under his chin, lifting his head. "Enjoy it. You'll return to yourself when you want to."

Izuku barked something like assent and floated around his mother gently, happily. His mother hummed a feeling of joy at him, and he hummed it back twofold.

* * *

"What's this?" Hisashi took the woven basket from Shouto's outstretched hand, a bit taken aback.

"From my sister," Shouto panted, wings waving a bit weakly. He bent over and coughed. "Don't tell her I flew all the way here."

"I'd never, scout." Hisashi lifted the lid of the basket, peeking inside. "Aw, dumplings? What for?"

"Inko helped her with a polar bear."

"She still has trouble?"

"They aren't really friendly, so she can't heal them alone."

"What about you?"

Shouto shook his head. "They like me."

Hisashi chuckled. "What's the trick? An ice bear's never looked me in the eye my whole life."

Shouto shrugged. "I don't talk to them."

"What?"

"I don't go to them, they come to me when they want to."

"Ah. Of course they like you."

"Fuyumi can't sit still."

Hisashi laughed as suddenly, two harp seals breached the water. Shouto blinked.

"That's Izuku with her," Hisashi explained, a soft look in his eyes. "Our son."

"Oh." Shouto sat on the sand next to the older man, skirt ruffled by the wind. "He's big."

"He's part human," Hisashi peeked inside the basket again. "Hm, if I remember correctly…"

"We ran out of íce," Shouto apologized, watching the white seals breach again. "They're having a great time."

"Yeah…" Hisashi sniffed a dumpling, a bit disappointed. "It's about time."

"Hm?"

"Nothing." Hisashi said, around the dumpling in his mouth. "You mind taking the basket inside?"

Shouto shook his head, and took the basket.

Their house was small, and pretty. The outside doesn't stand out much; it'd fit in nicely in a small suburb, like Rosses or something. Just after the door was a stone floor one was supposed to take their shoes off, but the rest of the house wasn't elevated like Shouto's own.

Shouto set the basket on their kitchen table, next to the vase of Alaria flowers - bright, cheery flowers that change colors with the seasons.

Shouto walked back outside, and stopped in his tracks.

"I'm staying," Izuku said enthusiastically, panting, using his arms to support himself on his knees. His green hair dripped with water, and his eyes, also a bright emerald, shone with joy, reflected with his large grin. Just one Shape was on his coat - a single emerald harp seal, breaching forest green waves around his shoulders. "I'm staying here."

Shouto couldn't look away from him. His cheeks burned, but his left cheek especially. (His hand twitched as if to scratch at it, but didn't move from the door handle.)

"Huh?" Izuku, suddenly noticing the fairy standing on his porch, blushing violently and gaze fixed on him. The green-haired boy waved, after a moment. "Hi."

Shouto didn't answer. "Hi," He finally managed, though it was strangled. He emotionally cringed.

Hisashi, silently watching this exchange, abruptly burst out in laughter. Inko giggled with him. Shouto blushed harder, unbelievably embarrassed – he hiccupped.

"What?" Izuku asked, looking between everyone for an explanation. "What's going on?"

"Nothing!" Shouto seemed to squeak, and hiccupped again, wings glowing and fluttering furiously. "Anyway, I'm going now, by-"

"Wait a minute," Hisashi stood suddenly, and reached for the pouch at his waist. "If you're flying back, then you'll need more dust, right?"

Shouto didn't look at Izuku once as Hisashi went and sprinkled the glowing dust on his wings, but he did glance at him just before he took off, an unreadable expression on his face as his cheeks still burned a furious red. And he hiccupped again, and flew off.

Izuku pointed to his own left cheek. "What was that?" He'd resolved to stop asking so many questions a while ago, but the glowing star on the boy's cheek was just plain weird lined up with everything else that'd happened today.

"What was what?" Hisashi asked, grin relaxing into a smile. Izuku paused.

"All of that."

"That fairy," Inko said, smiling. "was Todoroki Shouto. He's usually much more calm and collected, but…Well!" She gave in to her chuckles. "How calm can you be when you find your soulmate?"

Izuku's head tilted. "Huh?"

* * *

Shouto somehow made it home, as dazed as he was, and bumped into Natsuo on his way to his room.

"Hey, bugger," Natsuo greeted in passing, and then stopped and looked back at Shouto seriously. "What's up?"

Shouto didn't register his question. He only put his hands to his cheeks and sighed. _'Izuku_ , _huh?'_

Natsuo touched Shouto's shoulder. "Hello ~ ? Anyone home?"

Shouto blushed and giggled deliriously. "Izuku lives in a home…" He said, barely conscious, not reacting when Natsuo turned him around to see his face.

"Oohh…" Understanding dawned on Natsuo when he saw the small, circular birthmark on Shouto's left cheek glowing. Natsuo laughed, scratching his right cheek. "Wow, so young, too. Who's the lucky Sí?"

"...Izuku..." Shouto said, still delirious. Natsuo mentally planned to restock on íce. "…Inko's son."

"Huh? Shouldn't he still be a baby?"

"He's a little human." Shouto floated away, up to the second floor. "…I guess he grew fast."

Natsuo watched him in silence, for a moment. "I don't want to see kissing until you turn two-thousand!" He called, dropping the doubt crawling up his back. _'It worked for them, so it should work now.'_

Shouto laughed. He slid the door to his room open and shut it behind him, and sighed to himself. Snake, a snake a foot thick all the way around and ten times as long slithered up to him and flicked her tongue out at him; Shouto smiled dreamily and stroked her head lovingly. "I met my soulmate today, Snake." He said, head still thick with fluff. "I'm in _love_."

Snake flicked her tongue out more, and settled herself into a round heap at Shouto's feet, set about slithering away; its size made it slow, generally. Shouto flopped down on his sea of stuffed pillows and sighed, utterly out of his mind.

* * *

Izuku cheered around the dumpling in his mouth from the living room couch. "Yeah, there's a whole lot I want to learn about this place. I don't know anything."

"Then we'll get you a library card," Inko said, taking a few books from the bookshelf in the living room. "I think you'd like your own, instead of borrowing mine or Hisashi's."

Hisashi leaned on the threshold, looking a bit tired. "And I'd love to stay but…I have some meetings to catch up on." Hisashi's gaze seemed a bit pained. "I'm sure human government only specializes in taking too long to get things done."

Izuku glanced at his dad, only a little bit curious. "Yeah?" He said, distractedly. He didn't know what that had to do with anything, and didn't much care, really. The library, for once, was bound to be much more interesting.

His mother frowned deeply. "Do they know how important this is? Fairies are…" Her gaze dropped to the ground. She seemed to struggle to hold something in. "…We're in real danger."

Izuku stopped. "Huh?" He asked, looking at both his parents for help. "In danger of what?" (A shudder ran up his spine – like something dark and viscous was crawling up his back. He ignored it.)

His mother looked at him for a long moment. "Fairies," She began, "are basically the driving force of the life cycle here and on Earth." Her she paused, eyes widening. "Be-because of a curse a one thousand, four hundred years back..." Inko trailed off, a small fear crossing her face.

"...Fairy magic was bound to humans," Hisashi continued for her, gentle concern for her furrowing his eyebrows. "The young ones – pixies - got the worst of it." He paused, and frowned at the floor. "Almost all of them – even the more powerful ones – are extremely weak compared to their older siblings born before the curse, for example. Their magic fluctuates with human beliefs of the time. If humans lose faith in a world outside of themselves, fairies _die_."

For some reason, Izuku felt like crying. "Why?"

Inko sniffed, and sat down next to Izuku. "A cruel punishment for actions we didn't take. I…" She looked to Hisashi, and then at Izuku, and her eyes were gleaming with tears. "…sometimes, I think we deserve it."

"For what?" Izuku asked. It was embedded in him – maybe it was All Might - that there was nothing anyone could do that deserves death, especially like this. This was evil.

Hisashi scratched at the side of his face. "Uhm, maybe not tonight. It isn't the easiest thing to talk about, y'know."

Izuku nodded, but his brain still churned away. His dad left after that, and Izuku saw him off with a smile – that much was sure – but he was still restless. He could tell his mom was, too, because she buzzed around the house muttering constantly about things – the library, book club, someone named Mitsuki – and since she _was_ his mom, that meant she was probably very upset. His gut twisted with guilt, but he didn't apologize like he thought he should. Maybe it was his pride.

A while later, his mom kissed his forehead. "Here," She said quickly, giving him an oversized marble. "Much more efficient than the library – I'm in a bit of a rush, so I can't bring you with me…Mitsuki agreed to let her son over. A friend would do you good – not that you don't already have any or anything, but – you know what, nevermind, I'll be back by five, _alanna_ , have fun!" She was so flustered her words came in a single rush and she was out the door by the time she was done speaking, leaving Izuku strangely exhausted. He sat on the couch and stared at the blank orb, completely at a loss. Ugh, he was tired.


	3. Chapter 3

Ochako was absolutely thrilled. Mitsuki called her and asked if Katsuki and herself would be interested in seeing Inko's son. She also continued on to explain that Katsuki wasn't awake yet and would need someone to drag him out of bed.

Ochako would love to be that person; she was his soulmate, after all. He'd been growing a lot lately, so he was hungry all the time. Even though Ochako herself wasn't part human, she could understand. He was probably dealing with all kinds of stuff she didn't know about. But maybe that stuff could wait? It was going to visit Inko's son she was talking about. He was such a cutie when he was born. Oh, if he was teething…! So cute. But she wouldn't force him.

So she very kindly went over to his apartment in Further Rosses, said the usual kindnesses to his mother, and went to Katsuki's room to drag him out of bed.

Katsuki sa vauher, Mitsuki, hadn't bothered to try herself, since Ochako always won pretty effortlessly. Katsuki was still in bed, snoring away. Ochako waltzed in full confidence to the side of his bed and whispered in his ear, knowing that he was still somewhat conscious, "Katsuki, if you don't get up, I'll drink all the berrin." Really, no matter how cute the baby was, Katsuki wouldn't look twice at it if he didn't have to.

Katsuki sluggishly glared at her, and wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her onto the bed. "Fine," He growled, eventually. His ears, vaguely cat-like, twitched in annoyance. Ochako giggled.

"He'll be cute."

"I'm not babysitting."

"Really! I promise. He'll be so cute, you'll love him."

"I don't like babies." Katsuki stomped on, glaring resolutely ahead. Ochako smiled.

"Do they make you feel uncomfortable?"

"Huh?"

"Do babies make you feel uncomfortable?" Ochako asked as they came upon Inko's beach house. The back of the house was almost the same as the front, albeit with fewer windows. "Do they make you feel vulnerable, or something?"

"No," Bakugou snapped, jerking the back door open. Ochako tilted her head, walking in ahead of him and taking her shoes off. "Then what?" She asked, eyebrows raised. Katsuki's ears twitched, gaze narrowed in his glare.

"Don't make me say it," He muttered, kicking his shoes off and continuing into the house. Ochako smiled and skipped after him.

* * *

Izuku startled. Panic settled in quickly as the back door of the house opened with a creak. What? Was it his mom? Did his dad come back? Was it a criminal?! What?!

"Hello!" A very cheerful voice said, and appeared. A girl and a boy with cat ears walked in, one decidedly the cheerful one, and the other obviously not; the brown-haired girl smiled widely, and the boy scowled, cat ears twitching restlessly. Izuku stared helplessly at what was probably the craziest thing he's seen in his life, and the thought that this wasn't even weird here threatened to drive him crazy. He very quickly compartmentalized it away under "3 a.m. panic attacks".

"Uh…" The cheerful one said, the cheer all but drained suddenly from her face. "Where's…Inko's son?"

"I-I a-am," Izuku stuttered, and cursed himself mentally. Both sets of eyes widened.

The cheerful one bounced over to sit next to him, obviously a bit disgruntled, but very much going with it. "You grow fast, huh?" She wondered aloud, beaming at him. Izuku's face burned, and his mind blanked. __'She's talking to me, is she talking to me? There's no way, right? No way.'__

"No one grows this fast," The boy muttered, staring at Izuku. Izuku avoided looking at him entirely, for fear of being caught staring at his ears.

"Well…" The girl fell silent for a moment, thoughtful. And then her face lit with recognition and she gasped. "Kacchan, he's human!"

The boy - Kacchan- looked at her for a moment, and then his eyes widened. "Hisashi __is__ more human than…" And then he glared at Izuku. "Stand up!" He snapped. Izuku stared blankly at him for a moment, before he stood, orb still in hand.

"Kacchan! What're you doing?" The girl asked. Kacchan didn't answer; he simply stared at Izuku, expression still slightly angry. Izuku broke into a sweat, and pressed his arms closer to him.

"Katsuki!" The girl persisted.

"..." Katsuki sniffed. "…He's still a kid, Ochako."

"I'm fourteen," Izuku said weakly. His stomach felt warm…

Ochako's chin fell. "F-fourteen?! Your kidding, right?"

Katsuki looked like he was about to say something, but he stopped, gaze locked on Izuku's stomach. Izuku followed his gaze, and found himself staring at the orb in his hands.

It flashed with heat, the previously static surface now ablaze with colors and shapes and symbols he couldn't understand. And then it dulled.

 ** _"_** ** _ _ **You'll die here."**__** Izuku felt the thought invade his mind, dark and insidious and from a voice that sent chills up his spine. There was no way the thought was his.

"-ey!"

Izuku shook his head, and blinked, trying to clear his mind through the buzzing in his ears. _"_ _ _You'll-"__ "Huh?"

Ochako scrutinized him, eyes narrowed and lips poked out in thought. "…you __are__ Inko's son. I thought you were Hisashi's, but…"

"Huh?" Spots faded in and out of his vision. The ground seemed to want to move from under him. He resisted the urge to groan – his stomach swirled in such a way that made him want to throw up.

"More human than Selkie," Ochako explained. A smile spread across her face. "You're a Merrow! Boy, am I glad…"

"Merrow?!" Izuku burst suddenly, the orb slipping from his hands and thudding dully on the floor. His breathing thinned, and his vision swam. Panic crept up and seized him. "I can't…! I'm not…!"

 _"_ _ _I wanna go home-"__

Izuku moaned - heard someone shouting - felt a shock like lightning through his shoulder - and blacked out.

* * *

Izuku woke violently; he immediately sat up and was out of his bed before he even registered he was awake. A wild, dizzying moment later he ended up falling back onto his bed, head pulsing with a headache. He, in his daze, tried to remember how he got here, but came up empty. The day before was a hazy collection of images and words, but the afternoon was completely blank. He hissed and rubbed his temples, headache throbbing angrily. He could barely think straight…

He belatedly realized his mom was in a chair, laying on the foot of his bed, asleep. It was dark outside, so his mother's coat illuminated the room a bit on its own, but a lamp on his bedside table was on - Izuku wondered why it flickered faintly, like a fireplace. He reached for it, curiously.

The light flickered brighter. His hand, stopped midway to the lamp, tingled. He reached further, and the light swelled. A light-orange flame peeked over the lamp cover, and something about it vaguely reminded Izuku of a toy.

He picked up the lamp, lightly surprised by the lack of a plug, and looked inside. Instead of something resembling a light bulb, he saw a slow-moving, pleasantly warm flame. Under it, strange symbols that looked like writing smoldered gently, the flames rising from them.

It was magic. He set it back down, eyes a bit wide. Now that he thought about it, there were no plugs in this room - and he couldn't remember ever seeing any. Izuku threaded his fingers into his hair and pulled, whining a bit. The realization of how surreal this place was overwhelmed him again.

"Izuku?" His mother asked a bit groggily, sitting up and rubbing her eyes, her coat dimming and lighting again. She looked at him with concern. "Are you okay?"

Izuku nodded before he could think. Her expression didn't brighten much; she moved closer, and cradled the side of his face with her hand, examining him. Izuku bit his bottom lip.

"What…happened yesterday…?" He chanced asking. The blankness in his memory bothered him. His mom's expression lightened, the seriousness fading as she took his hands in hers.

"It's my fault," She confessed, a bit nervously. "I shouldn't've asked you to use your magic when you don't know anything about it…" She moved a strand of hair behind her ear, and looked at Izuku. "You saw a fortune, yesterday, probably. A prediction of future events. Only Selkies and Wirra can be Merrow – fortune tellers. What you saw - it'll most likely happen in real life, sometime in the future." She laughed a bit. "Your father is half Wirra, so it's probably guaranteed."

Izuku felt something like a familiar slimy darkness on his back, and shivered. "It…are fortunes bad?"

"Not usually," She said lightly. "Why?" Her eyebrows lowered, expression abruptly serious. "Was it?"

Izuku swallowed. "I think it was bad? It doesn't feel good…"

Inko stared at him, expression unreadable. He shifted, getting increasingly nervous. "Izuku, can you remember anything about it?"

Izuku shook his head. His mother sighed, threaded her fingers into her hair, and pulled a bit. "Oh, dear," She mumbled. Izuku swallowed again, stomach twisting.

He glanced at the window, realizing that morning was arriving. Inko still didn't move, deep in thought. Izuku considered getting her attention, but didn't. She was thinking about very important things, and he definitely didn't want to bother her.

 _"_ _ _Alanna__?" She asked suddenly, voice sounding a bit distant. Izuku hummed, gaze flicking to her.

"We're going to visit Rei," Inko said; she stood, and looked at Izuku. "She's very good at translating fortunes."

* * *

Izuku slipped on his red shoes, cheerfully biting into the juiciest, sweetest apple he'd ever tasted. "Are there trains here?" He asked his mom while tying his coat sleeves around his waist, who was slipping on her own shoes. She nodded.

"I figured we should," Inko said, and sighed. She flicked her wrist, and the little screen came up from her bracelet again. "I'm not all that fond of portals, anyway."

Izuku frowned, and bit into his apple. _'_ _ _God, this is delicious.'__

Izuku followed his mom out of the back door, and they walked along a path that was nothing more than just slightly beaten-down grass for a while, winding through tall grass pecked with flowers he didn't recognize.

His mother stopped, and Izuku noticed that the path ended here. "Where's the path?" He asked distractedly, staring at a navy blue flower. He picked it impulsively, and his eyes grew wide as the four petals suddenly pulsed, and changed to a vibrant green.

Inko didn't answer for a moment, and then jumped. "…Oh! It's coming."

Izuku hummed, twirling the flower. The flower petals' edges became a darker green wile paling closer to the center. How a train could run without track was beyond him - maybe it put tracks down ahead of itself as it went and picked up the ones behind it, like the toys on kids' shows and Yotube videos everyone wanted but never got. Maybe they just dissipated, like magic. He giggled, and slid his arms into the coat sleeves, and put the flower into a pocket. He'd like to keep it.

* * *

"I can't believe this." Shouto muttered, helping Fuyumi set the tray on the table. Fuyumi grinned at him, excitement overflowing.

"I can," Fuyumi said, and flew off, and came back with floor pillows. "What I can't believe is how scared you are."

Shouto took one, and sat on it. She looked at him with concern after setting the pillows around the table, settling down on one. "He seemed nice, didn't he?" Fuyumi asked, propping her head up on her elbow.

Shouto let himself slump onto the table, nodding. "And cute…"

"So why don't you…?"

The boy grunted, and pushed himself upright, and glared at Fuyumi. She raised her eyebrows and shook her head, clueless.

And then, their mother entered the room, placing the teapot on the table. She looked at Shouto, expression blank. Then she smiled.

"He's just shy." She stated. She sat across from the empty two pillows. "They'll be fine, __alanna__."

Shouto flushed. Fuyumi sighed, and rolled her eyes. "Scared of his soulmate," She muttered in disbelief. Concern caused her to nibble at her lower lip. Shouto deserved a soulmate, but wasn't letting himself have one. A bit of her thought he was over it. _'_ _ _He and Dad are really stubborn, though,'__ She thought, concern mounting. _'_ _ _Will he ever get over it?'__

Her mother patted her hand, expression soft and understanding. "Believe me," She said, a glint in her eye. "They'll be fine."

Shouto refused to look at her.

* * *

The train itself seemed magical enough already. The single car looked like if someone sliced the upper half of a Shinkansen car off; it went as fast as a Shinkansen, which was amazing enough, but the lack of a roof made it even better. Barrier magic, his mom said, eliminated the need for something so confining. No one would ride if they felt closed-in by it. Sure enough, Izuku tried reaching his arm out - which was easy, considering it was completely open where windows would be - and touched only a solid wall. He couldn't reach down as all, because the same invisible wall kept him from it. He set the flower in his pocket on it, watching the green petals wave in the slight breeze, which was the only thing allowed through the barrier.

After watching the countryside melt into plains, and mountains, and forest, Izuku was one-hundred percent ready to see something else utterly mind blowing, but after Inko told him that they were already pretty close, and the train started slowing down, his wide-eyed expression didn't fade a bit.

The trees seemed absurdly large - Izuku entertained the thought of them all being Sequoia level, and then realized that they were all much, much bigger than that.

He felt tiny. Giant mushrooms, like out of kids' shows, easily the size of normal houses, dwarfed him. Mushrooms grew in shelves off of trees, and Izuku asked if they were dying. Inko looked at him, a bit confused.

"They absorb extra oxygen for the tree, so it can grow properly…" Her eyebrows rose. "What do mushrooms do in your world?!"

"Decompose dead or drying trees 'n stuff," Izuku a bid distractedly, attention suddenly grabbed by a fairy flying along the train. They waved at him, and he smiled and waved back. "What are fairies here?"

"...Sí who care for life," Inko explained, still seeming to think about Izuku's mushrooms. She shuddered. "They have specific talents, like light fairies or animal fairies or water fairies - with a few exceptions - and use them to help take care of life and change the seasons, here and on Earth."

It sounded terribly familiar... "Just like, uh, uhm…" The name was on his tongue - he could taste it… "Ah, nevermind." And he lost it. He'll remember sometime. Or not. Either way was fine. "Why do they have wings?"

Inko shrugged. Izuku decided to take that for an answer.

As the train slowed, he noticed that a few trees themselves had what seemed to be windows in them. Doorways, a balcony there. "Did they carve them out…?" Izuku wondered out loud. Inko startled next to him.

"Stars, no!" She exclaimed, looking a bit horrified. "They're charmed, __alanna__! As seedlings, a spell was put on them to make them grow with just enough room inside for one to live. __Carved out__ , oh stars…"

And the train slowed to a stop. The sides of the car shimmered and fell with the invisible barrier; Izuku nearly fell out of the train car trying to catch his flower. Inko stepped gracefully out after him, giggling and taking his hand.

The tree they stopped in front of had simply a door and a few, large windows Izuku could see easily through, albeit for the light purple curtains that framed them. Izuku scratched at an itch on his neck while his mother knocked politely.

Izuku was surprised to hear a bit of scuffling and a shout before the door opened. "Hi!" A female fairy said brightly. Her hair was messy, clothes ruffled; she seemed to have just gotten out of a fight or something. "Mom's right here. Come in!"

There door opened to a small tunnel before opening to what Izuku thought was a living room; she flew off down it almost immediately after they stepped in, obviously searching for someone. Izuku took his shoes off out of habit, but his mother did too, so he guessed he was supposed to.

The short tunnel lead to a living room. A couch with a normal backrest, a couch without one, a coffee table, normal things. The only missing thing was a TV, Izuku thought idly. _'_ _ _There isn't one at Mom's house, either.'__

It was open, all the way up. About a fourth of the way up the inside of the tree, the house part probably stopped; hanging from what Izuku guessed to be the ceiling was a myriad of lights, which illuminated the whole inside of the tree. Balconies came out from the walls in what seemed to be a random order all around, probably leading to rooms and bedrooms. There were three on floor level.

Another fairy came out of one of these rooms. She flashed a smile at Inko - "Hi," she said - and flew up to one of the rooms, and disappeared inside.

Izuku blinked. Inko chuckled a bit nervously. "They're a bit awkward, if you aren't used to it," She explained to Izuku under her breath. "I've made a bit of a bad impression before…You just have to accept some of the things they do."

The female fairy from before came back, looking refreshed. "We'll do it in here," She said, gesturing to one of the rooms on floor level. Izuku unconsciously took his mom's hand as he followed her.

It led down another hall, but opened out into another room that reminded Izuku of a greenhouse. The walls were lined with various bushes and ferns and flowers. Beautiful flowers hung from the ceiling; some held colorful fruit. Izuku's eyes widened, trying to take in as much as possible at once.

"Mom's coming," The fairy said, sitting on one side of the table. Inko took the side with two pillows next to each other, and Izuku followed, still staring at the various flowers and fruit around the room. Somehow, sunlight penetrated the forest canopy enough to illuminate the whole room without extra light. Did the trees grow like that, or were there plant fairies…? He wouldn't be surprised if there was, and that fact itself surprised him a bit.

He felt someone squeezing his hand, and jumped when he realized his mom was trying to get his attention. "Fuyumi was talking," She said, a bit sheepishly.

"Uh! Sorry!" Izuku said, looking down at his knees. Fuyumi shook her head. "It's okay," She said, and reached across the table to take Izuku's other hand. "Do you have visions often?"

Izuku shook his head. "Never before," He said, trying to ignore the buzzing in his hand. Fuyumi hummed, nodding her head. "First fortunes are always important," She said sagely. Inko nodded.

"I was hoping your mother could…" Inko glanced at Izuku, eyebrows furrowed with concern. "Because he said he has a bad feeling…and he can't remember it."

Fuyumi looked at Izuku carefully, scanning his face with intent. Izuku flushed and looked away. "Did you hear anything?" She asked sternly. Izuku was starting to lose feeling in his hand; the buzzing progressed up his arm. A small wind started to pick up, Fuyumi's wings flittering faster and faster with each second. He shook his head and tried to pull his arm away, but his mom shook her head and squeezed his hand. Even if it was okay, he didn't like it.

Fuyumi closed her eyes, and Izuku felt something slimy and dark crawl up the back of his mind. He gasped - _"_ _ _You won't hurt me."__ \- and jerked his hand away before he could think.

Fuyumi's wings slowed, and her eyes blinked open as if from a long sleep. Her eyebrows furrowed with confusion, and a quiet fear. "I think - I'll get mom," She stuttered, fluttering out of the room before they could say anything. Izuku's breath shuddered and he returned his mother's hug gratefully.


	4. Chapter 4

Fortunes aren't bad.

Fuyumi burst into Shouto's room, expression laden with an unfamiliar fear. " _Mom_ ," was all she said, voice saturated with a desperation never heard before. Fortunes telling of bad events - like this, a fortune beyond just unusual weather patterns or sickness or natural disasters - never happened before. It felt so _bad_ …

Her mom seemed to immediately know what to do, somehow, because she didn't panic; a sternness clouded her face, but she carefully lifted Shouto's sleeping form from her lap, readjusted her shirt, and took Fuyumi's hand, pressing a calming kiss to her forehead, shushing her hiccups gently, and led her to the greenroom.

In there, Rei knelt by Izuku's side, wiped his tears, and murmured reassuring words, taking his hands and squeezing them gently. A quiet moment later, both of their eyes were closed, and Rei's wings were moving more gently than Fuyumi's own - the wind that resulted was less of a gust and more of a gentle breeze. There was so much she still had to learn.

And Izuku cringed, but Inko rubbed his shoulder, murmured into his ear, and he relaxed slightly.

In the attempt of trying to reignite memories in another, one felt the memory as well. Rei's eyebrows furrowed, slightly, and that was the most Fuyumi could tell about her inner feelings. From her own experience, she was definitely feeling more than that, and her control made Fuyumi feel as inexperienced as she did the first time her mother taught her the spells. She pulled her knees to her chest, and sighed. A chill ran up her back - she glanced behind herself, but saw no one.

Rei's eyes fluttered open, and Izuku's followed. "He'll need a good meal and a long nap," Rei said softly, a kindness in her gaze. "He'll be fine."

"And the fortune…?" Inko asked, expression considerably lighter. Izuku yawned, looking as if it took all his will power to keep his eyes open.

Rei looked at Izuku, gaze unreadable. "…" She looked down at her lap, and twined her fingers together, and untwined them, lips forming into a long, thin line. "…I'd rather not, here…" She murmured, expression seeming considerably more vulnerable.

Fuyumi felt dread settle into her stomach.

* * *

The train ride home was quiet, considering he was barely conscious for one half and fully unconscious the other, but he stayed awake long enough to see the scenery roll by against the background of the sunset, the reds and yellows and blues and purples against the suns and the rings more beautiful than any view on Earth.

* * *

Rei shook her head. "I couldn't see it. I couldn't see anything. I could only feel - and it was…terrible." She looked to Enji with a kind of desperation. "You haven't - seen anything bad, have you?"

Enji frowned deeply. "No," He said, slicing the vegetables a bit slower. Then, "There's a lag in the register…"

"Really?" Rei asked, eyes widening as puzzle pieces clicked together in her mind. "Didn't that happen before…? When the moon fell?"

Enji stopped, and then sighed. "I hoped desperately that this wouldn't happen again." He washed the vegetables with a bit more force than necessary. "Are you sure?"

Rei shrugged her shoulders. "Bad feelings, a slow register. We don't have a lot to go on. I'd like to be more sure, but..." Rei reached and opened the pantry. "We'd better work on berrin production."

"You too?" Enji muttered. Rei chuckled. Something was still scratching at the back of her mind, but she ignored it, for hope that it wasn't as bad as it seemed.

* * *

Shouto scratched at the burn scar on his jaw and yawned. Snake took the moment to curl around Shouto, tongue flicking as she purred. He rubbed her head with his thumb and scratched under her chin, and she purred louder. He smiled softly.

Fuyumi may talk out of emotion a lot, but she wasn't wrong. "Pathetic," Shouto muttered, resting his head on his arms. He could've at least left his sign or something, but nope. Who _runs_ from their soulmate?

But the thought of actually having a soulmate - someone you have to tell everything to - someone you have to rely on - made him stiffen. He couldn't. He couldn't give in. He wanted someone who needed to hug him on cloudy days, but he would never want to need to hug anyone - except maybe family. And even then, he hated being needy, no matter how normal it was. It doesn't matter if everyone's needy; he doesn't want to need anyone else.

Shouto blinked hard. Snake hissed only slightly and then purred, using her head and body to try to get Shouto to sit up and stop moping. He did, and gratefully rubbed her head and body. He wished he only needed Snake.

Natsuo and Fuyumi, on the other hand, he wished he didn't need. Not because they were currently whispering rather earnestly on his balcony, but because they wish he'd depend on people more. He's already at his limit, thank you. Too many people in his heart. He might explode if another person managed to wiggle their way into his life.

Even if Natsuo took this moment to slip into his room, picking up and silently acknowledging various stuffed beings like his goal wasn't Shouto at all, but determining and comparing how many stuffed beings were filled with cotton or water or beans. Even if he was essentially a big idiot, Shouto'd love him forever, and that'd never change.

Natsuo finally decided to drop the front and sat down next to Shouto, water-stuffed dragon in hand, and sighed. Shouto sighed, expecting a talk he'd have to sit through, and then Natsuo sighed again, probably because he knew why Shouto sighed and thought that talking wasn't worth the effort.

A moment of silence passed. Snake, curled on both Natsuo and Shouto's lap, flicked her tongue out to lick Shouto's face. He giggled.

"I'm telling Aoyama." Natsuo said flatly. Shouto's expression fell.

"You wouldn't."

"I would," Natsuo admitted solemnly. Shouto tried his best to look pitiable. Natsuo laughed.

"I am," Natsuo rubbed his face to make his grin go away. His expression turned serious again. "Maybe he could get it though your thick head you need people to live."

Here it comes. Shouto huffed. Natsuo made a face at him, fully aware that there was nothing he could say that Shouto'd actually listen to.

"I'm glad, y'know." Natsuo said, a bit quieter. "You didn't find yours when all the other kids did. Weird that you're all getting yours early, but…" He looked at Shouto, a glint in his eye. "Don't mess it up, 'kay?"

Shouto looked away; and then he sneezed, and rubbed his nose.

Natsuo sighed, rubbing Snake's head. "He's important, whether you want him to be or not."

* * *

Ochako gestured grandly, grin wide. "What if the Moon festival's coming early?! That'd be awesome."

"Doubt it," Katsuki muttered, squeezing her tighter, in his lap. She giggled; a smile quirked the edge of Katsuki's mouth upward. His ears twitched. "It's probably only about the dragons or somethin'."

"Kacchan, they already said the dragons are gonna hatch soon," Ochako feigned exasperation, wrapping her arms up around his neck. "There wouldn't be a fortune about something already announced."

"All you know about fortunes are from DV shows," Katsuki said. "It isn't that way in real life."

Something like a frown crossed Ochako's face briefly. "Hey!" She said, and turned to look at Katsuki. "Let's visit him."

"Huh?"

"Izuku," She slid off of her bed and onto the floor, paused to rub her foot with a curious expression, stood, and grabbed the blond's hand. "C'mon."

Katsuki barked a laugh. "'Ko, the moon's high-"

"So?" She pulled him up again, attempting to get him out of bed. "He probably isn't sleep."

"How do you know?"

She paused, and shrugged. He snorted. She giggled. "I love you!" She sang, falling into his lap and peppering kisses on him. He chuckled, "Love you, too." And his lips found hers in a kiss. She giggled again, returning it fully.

* * *

"Think about it. What other choice do we have?"

"I don't like this. It just seems…"

"I understand. But if you think about it, this will have to happen at some point. With… _that_ , we can no longer think of safety in separation. If we keep going the way we are…"

"But our children…why involve them specifically? Adults would work just fine, yeah?"

"Those are their conditions, Yamada. They want complete assimilation into their society, starting with the most moldable minds possible."

"We're not fools."

"You're right. Assimilation is impossible. They understand they're at more risk than us, yes? In theory, we'd fare just fine if –"

"In _theory_. I doubt it'd work out so well in reality. Would you want that on your shoulders, Kayama?"

"…"

"We have no choice. I'll begin a rough draft of the curriculum, and we'll think further of construction next meeting."

"Now onto the next topic! What happened to all the berrin, Todoroki?!"

* * *

Izuku yawned widely, reaching into his closet for his backpack. He pulled it out with a grunt and dug through it, looking for one thing in particular.

He pulled out his hero notebook - number thirteen - and glanced though it. The notes about quirks, heroes, and the sketches made soothed a restless feeling in his gut - an itching like he was missing something important.

There were two pages with "ALL MIGHT" written across them in bold, confident English with a little smiley face next to it. Izuku flipped to it and stared at it, expression blank.

He missed All Might. Even if he wasn't worthy by the man's standards, Izuku'd always be one of the first to preorder the Blu-Ray Combo pack of the most recent compilation of his interviews.

 _'That'll never change,'_ Izuku thought, glancing out of the window. Large bands arched across the sky; two dawn-colored orbs rose just over the horizon, one darker than the other.

Even if the world and what it meant to him and what it meant to _be_ him, did. He couldn't just leave that behind him like that. That part of his life was all that kept him going.


	5. Chapter 5

Izuku wandered down the stairs, hero notebook still in hand. He yawned tiredly, and his stomach growled. He wanted to sleep more – exhaustion weighed his shoulders down – but his stomach refused to let him. He yawned again, glancing at the pictures in the hall before bumping into his mom.

"Oh! Alanna…" Inko said. Izuku smiled briefly, and she smiled back. "Breakfast is ready."

Breakfast wasn't anything weird this time – a bowl of what looked something like miso, a rice bowl with an egg and a purple yolk on top. "I researched what the humans you lived around usually eat," Inko said, sitting at the table. "It's a bit different, but I'd hate for you to get homesick. I've already eaten."

Izuku, a bit shy of the purple egg, picked up the miso bowl instead. "It's fine, mom," He said, tilting the bowl at his lips. It was a little thicker than regular miso, but smooth and heavenly, just a bit sweet. He chewed something that must've been a substitute tofu slice in it, chewy and just a bit salty enough to make him hum in appreciation. Warmth glided down and spread out through his insides, grew from his stomach to his toes to his fingers.

"You like it?" Inko asked, shoulders sagging in relief. Izuku nodded enthusiastically and hummed, too busy eating to speak. Inko smiled, and sighed. "I'm glad…"

After a moment, Inko said, "I have some…things to do, along the coast and a few other places. Would you like to stay here, or come along?"

Izuku swallowed the egg, the yolk broken and oozing deliciously. "…Like what? Things?"

"There's been some problems recently," Inko said, frowning a bit. "I'll be able to explain better once we get there if you want. There's lots of things you may have to see to understand properly."

"Oh, okay," Izuku said. His coat slid from his shoulders as he finished the rice bowl, and he shrugged it back on. Curiosity nudged at the edge of his thoughts. "I'll come."

Izuku tapped his red shoes on, in the entryway, sliding his arms into his coat's sleeves. The white cloth glowed a bit brighter, almost as bright as his mom's. The design of the single seal a vibrant dark green. He smiled, a bit relieved.

"We'll go to Anna'leagh first," His mom said. She glanced at the rain outside, and then at Izuku. She sighed. "I have to get you to study hall…" Inko mumbled, raising her hand over her head. Her coat shone suddenly, and a shimmering shield appeared above her hand. She didn't put on shoes. "Are you sure you're unfamiliar with all magic?"

Izuku stared at the barrier, and it sparkled. "I think so. Yeah."

Inko sighed.

The beach outside was wetter than before due to the rain, which came down as a heavy drizzle. The sparkly barrier over his mom kept her dry, and he scowled at it, nonplussed. Izuku trudged through the sand after his mom as it squelched and shifted under his feet as she walked normally, unbothered by the shifting ground. He didn't get that, either, and didn't try. "Where're we going?" Izuku asked, realizing that they were only walking to the water. "Anna'leagh," Inko said. "A Olao city."

"Huh?"

"You'll understand when we get there, I think." Inko took Izuku's offered hand, wading deeper into the agitated waves. A knot formed in Izuku's stomach, and his coat gave him a feeling of pins and needles where it touched his shoulders and back, but he pushed through the waves anyway. They pushed against his legs, his hips, his chest, and then he tripped on something and ended up submerging completely.

He heard his mom laughing, somehow. A hand took his and led him to yet deeper waters; Izuku opened his eyes to see his mom's coat shine and her form shift from human to seal. The same warm feeling from before bubbled up in Izuku, and the sharp pain came from it. He blinked at his mom, a different feeling in him now.

"We could've went by portal," He felt his mom say. "But I'd like for you to get used to it, first. Anna'leagh isn't the most comfortable trip. I want you to use your forms, anyway. It's important."

Izuku barked something. Inko giggled.

The water here wasn't barren, like the beach by his home on Earth, made uninhabitable by trash on the land and water. Creatures populated the sandy floor, of all shapes and sizes, even as the water got deeper. He, freedom bubbling up in his chest, swirled through the familiar schools of fish he saw last time, greeted the new lone swimmers, and peeked into the coral and anemone homes of the ones who shared this place with him and others. He saw a medium-sized crab snap an aggressive fish from its home, and that fish go off and eat a smaller fish, and it saw him. Predictably, because it was close to Izuku's smaller size, it started going at him, too, jaws snapping and lithe form darting around.

Izuku watched it carefully, with a twinge of amusement as it tried to actually get a bite out of him. He got a bit annoyed, though, whipped it clumsily with his tail to get it to leave him alone. The fish shook it off, accidentally swam too close to the crab again, and the fight ensued once more.

This went on for a while, chasing crabs around, pushing particularly aggressive fish away and playing peek-a-boo with more complacent ones until his mother very gently guided his attention away. "It's not a good idea to travel to Anna'leagh in this form," Inko said. "It's far." And the seal swam a bit, the green patterns on her swirling and glowing and shifting as she twirled in the water; the glow became blinding, and when Izuku opened his eyes, an orca had taken her place. Large, bright eyes blinked at Izuku. He heard his mother laugh.

"Now, you too!" She said, clicking cheerfully. Izuku flapped his flippers, feeling utterly clueless on how he was supposed to. His mother must've had some idea on how he was feeling, because she nudged him with her big muzzle and said, "Don't think about it so hard, alanna. You can just coast in my current, you know, if it's too much stress on you." Inko led the way, gigantic body moving gracefully through the water. Izuku followed closely, soaking in his surroundings.

The oceans of Earth – even the beach by his neighborhood – always seemed large, foreign; he always felt he stuck out more like a sore thumb there than anywhere else. But here, he felt normal - a little alive, even – and never alone. As other forms of life became just a bit more sparse, he still was never fully alone with his mom; strange beings resembling Earth's to varying degrees and sometimes not at all swam alongside, or came and left. He asked why out of pure curiosity, and she said that some just live and reproduce here, and yet more still are taken to earth to live there - in addition to what already exists. She didn't quite know how it started, but it's been too late to stop for a long time. "It's not like it's a particular burden, anyway."

They swam for a long time. Izuku was starting to hurt all over and had to turn back to his human form to rest better on his mom's back. She continued slowly, to balance him better. The sun warmed him as he breathed hard, leaning on his mom's dorsal fin for support, satisfaction swelling in his chest. The scent of rain faded with the clouds as the shore faded further into the distance. The gently lapping waves against his mother's smooth back made a nice lullaby. He soon found himself unable to keep his eyes open, and drifted off into a heavy sleep.

He dreamed of a wave pool at a water park he went to once when he was little, and even now falling repeatedly off of the board no matter how many times he tried not to. Frustrated, he tried one more time, and fell, and hit his head on something hard.

He woke up in a daze, and as the water sloshed up his pants and he thought lamely that he should change them, a white bird coasted by, landed in the water close enough for Izuku to touch, and stared at him. He stared back, head full of fluff too thick to think. It opened its beak, closed it, and flew off with an experienced grace. Izuku watched it go, and then sneezed.

Aoyama wasn't always this annoying, but when he was, Shouto ignored him.

Five hundred images of various stuffed toys in one hour. One. Hour. Yes indeed, he had these saved up since the last time Shouto chickened out of something, over not one, but _two_ Bands – and no, he didn't steal it. Somehow. Shouto failed his own exam _four times_ (gasp!), who was he to judge? In fact, that was the last time Shouto had been graced with such an overabundance of beauty! and on and on and on-

Shouto nearly lit his own Band on fire, but then remembered it was the most valuable item he owned, something that he indeed fail the exam _four times_ to get, and decided to let Snake have it instead. She's probably buried it somewhere by now, which means that Aoyama will either evaluate the sudden silence and decide to move on with his life or wing it to Shouto's house and give him the honor of a live show. Which was fine, because he had something to badger Yuuga about, too. Also, something probably exploded somewhere in the house during this exchange.

So Shouto decided to make himself a sandwich, because he wanted something to go right for once.

But alas, he is not allowed to have nice things, for Fuyumi, Natsuo, and his father, were all in the kitchen, and apparently discussing the cake dough "situation" that adorned the kitchen walls and a very specific door-shaped cutout of cake dough on the living room wall directly across the room from said kitchen. This was probably that explosion – a smaller model of the Mooncake, to test for a bigger mini version of the Cake, for the final version, usually extravagant and taller than even his dad. He did say he wanted to help out with the Cake, though. He never thought he would regret that, but here he was, pulling dough off of the living room wall and trying to keep himself from eating the sickeningly sweet mess.

"Oh, thanks Shouto!" Fuyumi said. Shouto felt the pain of someone who was now fully unable to escape from something they really didn't want to participate in. "Sorry – could you come help us with something?"

He could not, but he did have time to waste until Aoyama came and spilled sparkles everywhere, so… "Yeah."

The kitchen was a creamy yellow in all directions, covering literally every surface in the room. The kitchen windows were now absent, probably broken from whatever just took place. Natsuo was now trying to convince his father that it was totally not his fault. "…It didn't have enough _berrin_ …!"

"The mini-model was…unfinished," Fuyumi explained. "But Natsuo felt compelled to pump it full of as much magic as possible anyway." She sighed, pulling dough from her skin. "It held for longer than I thought, though."

"Why didn't you test it?" Shouto said, from the hallway. The dough-covered floor repelled him. He wasn't that desperate. He scratched idly at the scar on his jaw. "The bigger model always ends up like this, but...worse." He frowned, pulling thick strings of dough from the threshold, balled it up, and felt bad for licking his fingers. "…Remember the last time we had to clean up?" His sandwich lay in various locations around the room. He could fly, but the cupboards are sealed shut with dough, and since Natsuo would undoubtedly end up cleaning, he didn't want to touch any more sticky uncooked goodness than necessary. He wasn't as nice as Fuyumi, sadly. "It'd be better to test it now."

Fuyumi shuddered. "Well that's fine, but-"

"You're cleaning this up, and that's final." His father stated flatly. Fuyumi winced out of reflex. Shouto felt the compulsion to do the same, but didn't because he didn't care enough to do so. Natsuo sighed, and started grumpily jerking mounds of dough from the countertop. "But it is a good idea," Enji relented, a bit lowly. Natsuo perked up. "I'll think about it."

Shouto's eyebrows raised. After Enji left the room – walking past him without acknowledgement – Shouto looked to Fuyumi for an explanation, and she giggled. "You owe Natsuo one," She said. "He somehow convinced dad to let go of tradition for once."

"What are you talking about?" Natsuo said, too innocently. "I fought that battle for myself. I've got a kid to get home to, y'know. I can't come over like this too much." And he winked at Shouto. "Little Mai does want a visit from uncle Shouto, though. Maybe, if he isn't busy…"

"Uncle Shouto's social life is being reevaluated," He said shortly. "He doesn't have time for little demons." Mai hated him. He didn't understand how Natsuo could think differently. She never even bothers to hide it.

Natsuo and Fuyumi both sighed in fond exasperation. Shouto's wings twitched in annoyance.

"Shouto!" A voice sang from the living room. Said fairy sighed heavily. "Good luck," Natsuo said, grinning even as he was pulling giant globs of dough from the floor. Fuyumi smiled warmly, in encouragement, but a mischievous amusement glittered in her eyes.

Shouto stuck his tongue out only half-jokingly, and turned to confront his sparkly fate with whatever semblance of dignity he could keep.

"Hey, mom?" Izuku said, tentatively. The word felt awkward to him, but comfortable at the same time. The water turned even more frigid than before; for some reason, he didn't mind. "Why did that boy from – yesterday? – look at me like that?" The question had been nagging him in a part of his mind he didn't like bothering with, but right now, the peace filling him let him ask without the fear of thinking of unpleasant things.

"…He's your soulmate, most likely." She said. His eyebrows furrowed. When she changed shape, his head heard words, but his ears heard regular animal noises. The difference made his brain turn circles in confusion every time she – or he, himself – spoke. "Oh, you don't know what that means, do you? It's different than with humans."

The whale hummed a note, in thought. "It's complicated, and I'm not the best to teach you. I've never regretted skipping Study Hall more than now..." She said, with a giggle. Izuku's head tilted in offhand curiosity. "Anyway, Shouto is a good zéta. He'll make you very happy."

Izuku stared. "Wait, soulmates – the romantic thing? Like, we're really…?"

"Yes," She said. "Hisashi complained of a lack of freedom in the beginning, but it's a choice I'd rather not make. Anyway – Shouto's your zéta, and you're his delta – or gamma, now. That's what deltas do, you know – they bend to what their gamma or zéta needs. They're great Sí. I myself am a zéta – Hisashi is a delta, too. I wonder if it's a human thing? Anyway, Shouto's a good zéta, stubborn as he is. His friend told me that he's terribly shy, though, which does explain why he ran yesterday. I hope he won't dig his heels in too hard about you – for or against, though probably against…oh, I hope he won't make this difficult-" She muttered nervously too, Izuku thought with a bit of shock. "-really, I think I might need to have a talk with him to make sure this whole thing goes smoothly – his parents aren't in the best relationship, and he might need some advice on how soulmates really act – his father isn't the best man to do so, and his mother – and they're both so busy, especially now with the festival coming up – but I'm not really the best person to do so - oh, I'm dragging on, aren't I?" She suddenly laughed. "Sorry, Izuku. The point is; soulmates are fine and natural, and I'm happy for you."

"Humans don't have soulmates," He blurted, before he could stop himself. Inko hummed. "Well, you aren't human, are you?" She said.

Izuku's stomach turned hard. 'I'm not, am I?' The coat on his shoulders - brightly and defiantly white - that he'd go blind and deaf within seconds if taken off - assured him of that. He wasn't "no longer" human, he was never human in the first place. He was something else from the very beginning. His mother, the whale he was sitting on, assured him of that, as well. A heavy feeling settled in his gut. Guilt and disgust at himself, for pretending to be something he wasn't. Pretending to walk among them and wanting to fit in with them and wanting people to treat him like he was normal. Ridiculous feelings, like that.

He rubbed his eyes and to get away tears that threatened to fall, and also to get himself to stop thinking like this. That girl from yesterday was nice to him, even after knowing he was human. He remembered the boy with her, and his rude demeanor, and his cat ears, and thought that the jury was still out on him. But maybe it wasn't so bad that he wasn't fully human – maybe he could be accepted for all that he was, instead of just a part.

The clouds floated by a while ago, leaving a clear expanse of greyish blue. He stared up at it, the suns dulled just a bit, the rings far southeast of them. Izuku swallowed the bad feeling in his stomach down, told himself he was somewhere he belonged, now. He believed, almost desperately.

Shouto, after Yuuga took way too long to say the usual pleasantries and took even longer to examine and cheerfully point out to Shouto the majesty in the wood and the placement of the knots and the magical and technical skill the Obaa had in creating the staircase Shouto magically summoned, dragged Yuuga into his room, waved a barrier spell for privacy, and finally contemplated kicking him out instead of actually talking through his problems, for once. It's something he's always wanted to do – just ignore his problems and responsibilities and live life as if they didn't exist. That'd be nice.

Yuuga sighed, deflated, looked a bit tired. Shouto ignored this. "Before you end our friendship," Yuuga said quietly, beginning the live show mentioned before. "I'd just like you to know that your secret is safe with me for as long as you need it to be – _forever_ , if necessary!"

"Uh huh," Shouto mumbled, caught off guard but still apprehensive of the inevitable guilt trip. Usually, the confession was that he told everything that moved. Maybe he's trying to keep fresh.

Yuuga glanced at Shouto furtively before he resumed staring sadly into the middle distance. "A single soul…so many opportunities… _never taken_ …"

"Of course," Shouto said. He was still in shock. He expected this secret would be kept about as well as his band exam secret was; he had many offers from complete strangers for help that jú. Even someone as socially inept as Shouto could figure out the source.

"So," Yuuga said. Shouto raised an eyebrow. Yuuga blinked at him knowingly. "You'll concede, just this once? For me?"

"Concede what?" Shouto was absolutely clueless.

Yuuga sighed heavily. "You never cease to amaze me, Shouto. You're clueless at the worst times." He took Shouto's hands, looked in his eyes. "You need to get over your fear of commitment."

"What are you talking about?" Shouto asked, getting angry. He thought for a moment, and realized he knew what Yuuga was talking about. "Yuuga, I am not-"

"-you need to have _proper relationships_ for _proper spiritual growth_ -"

Shouto laughed abruptly, bitterly. His embarrassment turned into something hard and uncomfortable in his gut in self-defense. " _You're_ one to talk about _spiritual growth_. Why're we even friends, if you care about something _good_ like that?"

Yuuga stopped.

Shouto stared, then sighed hard. But it wasn't like he didn't mean it, though. And Yuuga knew that.

The blond fairy fell onto a beanbag by him. Shouto thought he planned that. "Shouto," Yuuga said, faintly. "Saying brash things like that is how we got here."

Shouto frowned. He went and sat on a blanket next to the beanbag, looked at Yuuga. "That isn't a bad thing," He said, quietly. Yuuga laid down on the bean bag, his back toward Shouto.

He saw the way the blond fairy's skin was warped and discolored around his wings, which were themselves puny compared to healthy wings – compared to Shouto's. He shuddered.

"They're fine, thanks for asking." Yuuga said flatly. Shouto huffed in frustration. "I wasn't asking," He said. After a moment, Yuuga chuckled, softly. Shouto frowned, because he didn't get why.

Izuku thought Anna'leagh was pretty average. With that being said, Anna'leagh wasn't like any place he's ever been.

An island city, partially hidden buy absurdly tall trees bordering the outside of the island, save for a bay kind of beach. Izuku, guiltily, summarized the people lounging about and chatting and playing as "varying degrees of fish" with some being a more "realistic" kind of mermaid to simply a humanoid with some fins. Izuku felt bad for wanting to avoid them, which only intensified when seemingly every living thing on the beach wanted to say hi to his mother. Different people meant different social rules, which he never had a good grasp of even on Earth. It was all too much.

He resisted the urge to kick a waving crab in his swirling anxiety hellhole, for fear of the walking fish head conversing with his mother taking notice.

When the talking fish head asked him for an introduction, his mother redirected their attention from him to her, and he'd never been so happy in a public space before in his life. The large, single eye blinked at his mother, and he tried not to shudder. Because that was rude, and it would probably see.

When he finally had an opportunity to ask why, he instead asked her if they could hurry up. Inko agreed, seeming a bit drained. "On second thought," She said, "Maybe I should've warned you. They're very friendly here. I get tired quickly, talking to people. It's a bit stressful to me." And she chuckled, a bit self-depreciatingly.

Izuku wanted to tell her that this was normal, but it was probably only a normal human thing or whatever, so he ended up shutting his mouth out of fear of saying something dumb. He only said, "Me too," _severely_ understating how violently he wanted to curl in a hole and die. But she smiled, so that was probably the right thing to do.

Eventually they had an opportunity to make a beeline for the inner city. Small stands along some paths among the trees turned into small buildings along dirt streets, which turned into bigger buildings, and then apartments with some stores at the bottom and alleys at their sides. The people hung around and chatted and kids played in the light dappled by overhead tree branches; a normal town, save for the "varying degrees of fish" and a lot more trees than most urban areas of the human world. Izuku, caught off guard by this, felt extremely uncomfortable in his soaking wet shoes and pants in the chilled air.

It was very "normal", and yet…not. Izuku couldn't put his finger on why.

After a while, they reached a tall tree in the town center, with glowing amber-colored leaves and a small building in front with a small sign with strange characters on it. "It says 'Shigo-chi'," Inko explained, as they entered. "Uh…labor office, I think, in your language. Natural labor office."

Izuku hummed, thinking back to his years in school. He was never particularly bad at kana or kanji, but not particularly good, either. Would he have to learn a new language along with the Japanese he already knew? He hasn't even finished kanji studies yet. He didn't want to forget about it altogether, but he was pretty sure he'd need to learn this new language. He'd just need to become bilingual; it shouldn't be that hard, right?

His mother talked to a mermaid at the counter, who was suspended in what Izuku could only think of as a fishbowl wheelchair. The woman had a single analog controller at her side, which was attached to the glass bowl, but no wires connected it to the wheels. The wheels moved, though, when she pushed the stick to take something off of the wall and give it to his mother. Maybe it operated on the same magic that powered the lamp in his room…?

His mother accepted the thing and left, and he followed in barely concealed shock. The thing that was missing was electricity – the poles, the wires, the steady thrum of it you only knew was there when the power came back on after being out for a while. Nothing replaced it but the tree branches and the distant sounds of the ocean. Izuku didn't know how to feel about this – he felt a lack of something in his chest, even when he tried to fervently fill it with explanations and examples on why electricity wasn't even needed here. Shouldn't he be happy that this world wasn't tainted with violent pursuit of such a thing, like his own? Maybe he was just searching for empathy.

"We're going to a cave," Inko said. "A water dragon kanu – or farm. A water dragon farm. We use their eggs for things like berrin – I think it's kind of like your beer – and stuff like that. Water dragons usually have tons of eggs that don't have embryos inside, so we and other animals eat them instead, but the eggs they're have now are mostly water." Inko smiled at Izuku. "It's one of my jobs to see what's wrong, and fix it if I can."

Izuku hummed. They walked along a dirt path leading to another beach, and on this empty beach was a single cave, medium-sized and in the side of a cliff. Izuku and his mother trekked toward it; and then a roar came out, loud enough to shake the ground, and Izuku's insides.

Izuku stopped cold in his tracks. It came again, louder, and more angry-sounding. His mother continued on with a chuckle, but Izuku had not the faintest idea what for. _'Water dragon'_ – duh, it was a _dragon_.

Izuku, despite never having been more curious before in his life, stood stock still, in order to preserve that life.

"What's wrong?" Inko asked, with a small giggle. "It's only Kamec. He isn't very fond of fairies, is all. He'll calm down once he sees it's just us," She said, taking his hand and guiding him in. He still felt very afraid, but it faded just enough for him to be able to stumble into the water filled bottom of the cave, and immediately regretting it because now his socks were soaked again. He sighed.

"You can take them off," His mother said, her own bare feet submerged in the chilly water. "There's no problem. Aren't they just uncomfortable?"

"They're wet," Izuku mumbled, taking them off anyway and setting them on the sand by the water. His hands shook frustratingly in his fear. There wasn't anything to be scared of, right? Of a dragon. He was being ridiculous, probably.

"They aren't violent," She said. "Fairies just tend to poke and prod, is all. Kamec just likes to keep to himself; you can imagine it isn't a very good attitude to have when someone just wants to heal you. But other than him, they're quite pleasant, and have a wonderful sense of humor."

Izuku stared at her. "They talk?" Honestly, talking animals shouldn't surprise him all that much, since he got here on the back of his mother in the shape of a whale – but he was relieved, too. He could get to understand them. Immediately, the idea of real life dragons seemed a bit less intimidating.

And after they walked further into the cave, his fear stayed down, until he actually saw one.


End file.
